The government is in a mad dash to ensure that all funds made available by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Fund are, in fact, absorbed. 

In many cases, this would mean revising the funding terms to allow the funds to be absorbed by the final deadline of September 2026. Fortunately, the fund appears willing to cooperate as utilizing the totality of the funds is a challenge it wants to succeed in.

More than the projects submitted for funding, it is the milestones in their progress that trigger a release of funds that need revising.

At the end of July, the European Commission approved a large-scale revision of the funding that involved changes in both projects submitted and milestones. Not even two months later, an even larger scale revision is imminent, as the final deadline for dibursements is only 13 and a half months away.

Kathimerini understands that the latest revision will be two-pronged:

First, a “better” – read more supple – definition of 194 milestones that trigger subsidies (182) and loans (12). If, for example, a milestone called for a “complete staffing of mental health units” it can be changed a more supple “staffing of the operational mental health units.”

Second, taking off the funding some projects/milestones judged impossible to complete on time and redirecting funding to others. This, of course, was done on a large scale during the latest revision and the parties concerned thought they were done with the impossible-to-complete projects. This time, both Greek and EU agencies want to take time and make sure which exclusions must take place.

For its part, though, the Commission is pressing for quick decisions, as the fund’s existence is running its course. The fund estimates that some 3,000 to 3,500 contracts must be signed in the remaining 13 months. “It has never been done before,” they say.

The next demand for funds, expected by October, concerns €1.8 billion, all loans. The prerequisite is to sign contracts for loans worth €9 billion.

Then, a request for €1.7 billion in subsidies and €1.8 billion in loans must be submitted by the end of the year.